Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-05-20

And, behold, this promise do give We,
that when | sit upon the seat of my fath er' S,
bloodsbed shall cease in the land. No ION
ger shall We cry for justice to find slaughter,
no longer shall the witchfinder hunt We oIt
So that We be slain without cause. No man
shall die save him who offendeth against the
laws. The eating up of your kraals shall
cease; each shall sleep secure in his own hut
and fear not, and justice shall walk blind
throughout the land Have yc chosen,
chiefs, captains. soldiers, and people,"
1--WE have chosen, o kingT came back the
answer.
1T is well. Turn your heads and see how
Twala's messengers go forth from the greal
town, east and west aud north ami south, &c
gather mighty army to Stay me and ye, and
these my friends and my protectors. To
morrow, or perchance the next day, VIII he
come with all who are faithful to him. Then
shall see the man who Is indeed my man,
the man, who fears not to die for his cause;
and tell ye he shall not be forgotten in the
time of spoil / have spoken, o chiefs, cap
ulins, soldiers, and people! Now 90 to yout
huts and make ready for war"
There was pause, and then one OF the
chiefs lifted his hand, and out rolled the
royal salute, "Koom." 1t was sign that
the regiments accepted lgnOs as their king.
Then they marched off in battalions.
Half an hour afterward we held council
of war, at which all the commanders OF the
regiments were present. 1t was evident to us
that before very long we should be attacked
in overwhelming force. Indeed, from our
point of vantage on the hill we could see
troops mastering, and messengers going
forth from Loo in every direction, doubtless
10 summon regiments to the king ASSISTANCE.
We had on our side about twenty thousand
men, composed Of seven of the best regi-
ments of the country. Twala had, so lnfa'
docs and the chiefs calculated, at least thir'
ty TO thirty-fve thousand on whom he could
rely ut present assembled in Loo, and they
thought that by midday Oh the morrow lie
would be able to gather another five thou
sand or more 10 his aid. Ii was of course,
possible that some of his troops would desert
and come over TO US, but it was not contIn.
gency that could be TeckOned on. Mean
while, 1t was clear that active preparations
were being made to subdue us. Already
strong bodies of armed men were patrn.mS
round and round the foot of the hill, and
there were other signs Of coming attack
InfadOos and tie chiefs however, were OF
opniou that no attack would be made that
night, which would be devoted to preparation
and to the removal by every possible means
of the moral effect produced upon the minds
of the soldiery by the supposed magical
darkening of the sun. The attack would be
OH the morrow, they said, and they proved
to be right.
Meanwhile, we set TO work 10 strengthen
the position as much as possible. Nearly the
entire force was turned ont, AMI in the two
hours which yet remained to shutdown won
dcrs were done. The paths up the hill,
which was rather sanitorum than fort
rrss, being used generally as the camping
place OF regiments suffering from recent
service in unhealthy portions of the country,
were carefully blocked with masses of
stones, and every other possible approach
was made as impregnable as time would
allow Piles of powders were collected at
various spots TO be rolled down upon an adj
ylncng enemy stations were appointed TO
different regiments, and every other prepare
ton which our joint ingenuity could suggest
was taken
Just before shutdown we perceived Il small
company of men advancing toward us from
the direction of Leo, one of whom bore a
pam-leaf i'll his hand as sign that he came
as Il herald.
As he came lgnOsi, InfadOOs, one or two
chiefs, and ourselves went down to the foot
of tho mountain to meet him. lie was a gal
laut-looLing. fellow, with the regulation
leopard skin cloak.
'Greetngi' he cried, as he came near;
"the kings greeting TO those who make UNI
holy war against the king; the lions greet.
ing 81 the jacllaIs who snarI round his
heels"
Speak" | said
"IhcSe are the kings words. surrender to
the kings mercy ere a worse thing bcfall yc.
Already the shoulder has been torn from
tie black bull, and the king drives him
bleeding about the camp"
What are Twaia's terms?' | asked ior
curiosity.
Ills terms are mercifuI, worthy of a king.
These are the words Of Twala, the one eyed,
the mighty, the husband of Il thousand
wives, lord of the kukuanas, keeper of the
great road (Solomon'S Road, beloved of the
strange ONES who sit in silence at the noun
t&Ias yOndcr (the three Wltchcs). calf OF the
black cow elephant whose tread shakes the
earth, huge one, black one wise one, king
from generation to generationt these are the
words of Twala: i will have mercy and be
ten shall die, the rest shall go free; but the
white man lncubu, who slew Scragga, my
son, and the black man, his servant who
pretends to my throne, and Infadoos, my
brOtheR who brewS rebellion against me,
these shall die by torture as an offering TO
the silent ones Such are the merCiful
words OF Twala"
After consulting with the others little, |
answered him in Il loud voice, so that the
soldiers might hear thus:
Go back, thou dog, to Twala, who sent
thee, and say that we, lgnoS vertable king
of the kukuanaS, Incubu, Bougwnn, and
MaCumaZahn, the wise white ones from the
stars, who make dark the sun, InfadOos, of
the royal house, and the chiefs, captains, and
people hens gathered, make answer and say.
That we will not surrender; that before the
sun has twice gone down Twalas corpse
shall stiifen ut Twalas gates, and lgnOSi.
whose father Twala slew, shall reign i'll his
stead Now 20, ere VIC whip thee away, and
beware how We lift n hand against such rs
we"
The herald laughed loud. "Ye brighten
not men with such swelling words" he cried
out "Show yourself as bold tomorrow, o
We who darken the sun! Be bold, fight and
be merry, before the crows pick your bones
Till they are whittier than your faces. Fare
well; perhaps we may meet in the fight;
walt for me, pray, white men" And with
this shaft of sarcasm he retired, and almost
immediately the sun sunk.
That night was busy one for us, for as far
rs was possible by the moonlight all nrepara-
tons fer the morrOw's fight were continued.
MeSSengerS were constantly coming and
going from the place where we sat in coun-
ell. At last about an hour after midnight.
everything that could be done was done, and
the camp. save for the occasional challenge
al sentry, sunk into sleep Sir Henry and
|. accompanied By lgnosi and one OF the
chiefs, descended the hill and made the
round of the vedettes. As we went, sudden
~, from all sorts of unexpected places
spears cleaned out in the moonlight, only 10
vanish again rs we uttered the password.
1t was clear to MS that none were sleeping ut
their posts. Then we returned, picking our
way through thousands of sleeping warriors
many of whom were taking their last earth
" rest
The moonlight hIckcrcd along their spears
and played upon their features and made
them CHASTITY; the chilly night wind tossed
their tall and hearSe-like plumes There
they lay in Wild confusion, with arms out
stretched and twisted limbs; their stern.
stllwart forms looking weird and unhumau
in the moonlight
How many OF these do you suppose will
be alive NJ this time tomorrow asked Sir
Henry.
shook my head and looked again at the
sleeping men, and to my tired and yet ex-